What is the title of your latest release?
THESE VILE HEARTS
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Maddox, a type 1 diabetic woman at the end of her financial rope, makes a deal with a dryad queen to kill a rival king in exchange for a cure; meanwhile, Castor, a dryad prince, makes a bargain with his brother to get a mortal to fall in love to rid himself of a curse that kills anyone who falls for him. When Maddox mistakes Castor for the king, their two fatal pacts collide in a deliciously vile series of ill-fated events.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I visited the Redwoods in Southern Oregon on an RV trip with my grandparents back in 2012 and have wanted to set some sort of fae book there ever since. It was otherworldly. A breathtaking place to witness.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I love hanging with a fellow type 1 diabetic. We have access to the same secret inner world non-diabetics know nothing about. Maddox is a Scorpio, and I’m a Gemini, so we have an inquisitive nature and love of intense conversations in common. We would definitely be able to have a great time on a night out but would likely butt heads when she inevitably cussed me out. lol.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Cynical, Hedonistic, Empathetic
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned SO much about trees and certain plants. My favorite fact: Trees share nutrients with each other through their roots and an underground fungal network, which The National Forest Foundation calls the “woodwide web.”
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Tragically, I edit as I draft. If I am on a tight deadline, I will force myself to move forward, but my instinct is to go back, re-read, and edit.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
This doesn’t sound like an indulgence, but one of the things that affects my blood sugar the most is cereal. So, my favorite foodie indulgence is a big bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats!
Describe your writing space/office!
It is a mix between a whimsical, mismatched, topsy-turvy room you might find in ALICE IN WONDERLAND and…a cat cafe.
Who is an author you admire?
Oh, there are soooo many, but one of the authors who makes me actively jealous when I read her words because of the hauntingly beautiful lyricism of her prose is Erin Morgenstern.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Along the same vein, I would say THE NIGHT CIRCUS changed my life in that it showed me how a book could give readers a transcendental experience. It has the ability to make you believe in magical things like circuses that show up in the dead of night smelling of caramel popcorn and dreams.
(Can I also cheat and add TWILIGHT? Because that was my first experience with a romance book that absolutely hooked me at a level I had not known previously. I was clinically obsessed. I could not get enough of Edward Cullen and his problematic attachment style. And, to be honest, I still look for that feeling in other romance novels.)
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was in my home office when I got the call and am pretty sure I sat there, open-mouthed for quite some time when I got off the phone. I may have also screamed in a wildly unhinged way and said a few joyous curse words while my brain processed what just happened. Then I went into the other room to tell my husband the news (which he likely already knew due to said screaming and cursing…but he acted surprised if so). After years of writing, self-publishing other books, querying new books, and going on sub, it had been a long time coming. Overjoyed is an understatement.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Gothic romance is the one I crave most frequently, but I love a dash or two of dark humor thrown in there too.
What’s your favorite movie?
I have so many! BUT the one I could watch every day and not get bored of is Moulin Rouge - which does happen to influence a few scenes of THESE VILE HEARTS.
What is your favorite season?
Autumn. You can’t beat the weather and the changing of the leaves and the sweaters and the impeccable Halloween decorations and just the overall excellent vibes.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I usually just like to do something small and indulgent with my husband, like go to a nice dinner and buy a couple of fun things (i.e.: books).
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I hope I can answer for each of these because I am always consuming some form of media or art.
TV show: Look, I will never stop recommending Love Island UK to people who enjoy human behavior and sociology. Not only does it have some impeccable romantic moments, but the friendship bonds are my favorite things to witness. I’m telling you. Watch Season 5 if you’re going to try one.
Movie: Hamnet made me absolutely weep. The acting was impeccable, and I also loved all the small Shakespeare nods that only people who have studied or taught it would catch.
Book: I would actually recommend a non-fiction book called DEAR WRITER: PEP TALKS & PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR THE CREATIVE LIFE by Maggie Smith. I read this when I was in a writing funk, and it brought me right out of it.
Podcast: Ologies with Alie Ward has so many incredibly fascinating episodes that will jump-start any creative slog you may find yourself in.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
If I have to choose (which I never like to do) but, since I grew up in Texas, I would probably say good ol’ Southern comfort food.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love exploring my city with my husband, walking to new neighborhoods, through cemeteries the size of parks, to new coffee shops. It awakens my brain. I also love playing D&D…too much probably. And just hanging out with friends at coffee shops or breweries, preferably writing or reading–usually yapping, if we are being honest.
What can readers expect from you next?
Definitely a romance of some sort, but with a more gothic tone. I am a gothic-lover at heart, and while I loved playing in the fae realm for a while, I am ready to return to old manors, macabre themes, skeletons, graveyards, and ghosts.
A delightfully wicked, fizzy debut romantasy–an enemies to lovers tale about a desperate mortal woman and a cursed fae prince
Maddox Sinclair has run out of options. No job means no health insurance —a death sentence for a type one diabetic like herself. She flees to the forest to make a desperate deal with a dryad queen: kill the Redwood King and be cured of the illness that threatens her life.
In the redwood treetops, Prince Castor, is cursed– anyone who loves him is doomed to die. Like Maddox, he has made an equally unwise pact with his brother, the Redwood King: get a mortal to fall in love with him by solstice and be free of his curse forever.
When Maddox mistakes Castor for the king, sparks fly and troubles ensue. Each must decide what is more important—survival and freedom, or the love they (kind of, almost) feel in their traitorous, vile hearts.
Darkly funny and brimming with magic, These Vile Hearts by Melody Robinette manages to be both wicked and warm, beguiling and moving—a richly woven story of survival and fate.
Fantasy Dark | Romance Fantasy [ Penguin, On Sale: August 11, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9798217178384 / eISBN: 9798217178391 ]
A speculative fiction author, Melody has a love of all things gothic and macabre. Born and raised in Texas, she now lives in Pittsburgh with her bartender husband and their two cats. When she isn't reading, writing, or checking her blood sugar app, she can be found playing D&D, binge-watching Love Island, or fawning over her feline son Edgar Allan Poe Tato.
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